A thin mist covered the Yale Bowl on Saturday morning and into the early afternoon as the Big Green methodically plodded through their pre-game drills. But then, just before game time, the fog lifted.
Talk about symbolic.
Dartmouth (2-3 overall, 1-1 Ivy League), a team that played the first four games of its season as if in a haze, finally shook its season-long malaise with a 31-14 hammering of Yale.
The sun shone brightest on tailback Pete Oberle '96, who proved he is as good as, if not better than, his considerable hype. The 215-pound tailback ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 34 beautiful carries.
And although Jay Fiedler '94 had been in a light of sorts all season -- a harsh spotlight that all but blinded him in its glare -- he too emerged from the dark cloud that had accompanied him with 17 completions in 25 attempts for 236 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.
But as good as Fiedler's numbers were, it was his poise that assured Dartmouth's victory. Three times in the second half, Lyons called on the senior captain to convert on fourth down from just outside kicker Geoffrey Willison's '95 somewhat-suspect range.
And three times, Fiedler came up big.
Those conversions sustained a pair of drives that led to touchdowns and allowed Dartmouth to pull away after Yale had closed the score to 16-14 with a touchdown early in the third quarter.
Fiedler's accomplice on two those conversions was wide-out John Hyland '94, who had a career day with 10 catches for 157 yards. Hyland caught a 25-yard pass late in the third quarter on fourth and seven that pushed Dartmouth to the one-yard line and set up a bootleg touchdown run by Fiedler.
Hyland cut out the middle man on his other piece of fourth down heroics as he snagged a 17-yard touchdown pass from Fiedler on fourth and six mid-way through the fourth quarter for Dartmouth's final score of the day. That capped a 10-play, 49-yard drive that ate 4:12 off the clock and was kept alive by a gutsy 8-yard scramble from Fiedler on fourth and three at the Yale 29-yard line.
The first touchdown came at a crucial point in the game as Yale had built up considerable momentum in the third quarter thanks to the 60-yard scoring drive with which the Bulldogs started the second half. The majority of that drive came with Yale in a no-huddle offense.
"That caught us back on our heels a little bit," linebacker Josh Bloom '95 admitted.
If that drive put the Dartmouth defense on its heels, Eli quarterback Steve Mills' 90-yard touchdown pass to Dave Iwan in the first quarter put them on their butts. That TD bomb narrowed Dartmouth's lead to 10-7.
But those were the only two times Yale managed to embarrass one of the Ancient Eight's most effective defenses.
After the third quarter scoring drive, the Bulldogs advanced the ball Chihuahua-like 35 yards the rest of the day.
Dartmouth's defensive line owned their Eli opposites as it sacked the fleet-footed Mills five times and shut the Yale running game down to a measly 48 total yards.
What made the defense's job easier was that the offense played Ebeneezer Scrooge with the football. With a running attack that netted a season-high 216 yards without a single run that went for more than 14 yards, the Big Green hogged the ball a selfish 37:54 to Yale's 22:06, including a first half in which Dartmouth more-than doubled the Eli's time of possession.
It was during that first half in which Yale's defense was about as effective against Dartmouth as a spaghetti strainer would be trying to hold back a flood.
The Jay and Pete Show started promptly at 1 p.m. as Dartmouth's first drive of the game saw Fiedler and Oberle account for 72 of the 80 yards that the Big Green drove for the first touchdown.
Dartmouth's next drive set up a 31-yard Willison field goal. The Big Green's next sequence started at their own 10-yard line and ended on Yale's 11 when Chris Umscheid '94 fumbled. After Yale went three and a very weak out -- a punt that went 25 yards -- Dartmouth chewed up the 36 yards to the goal with pass plays of 13 and 15 yards, a five-yard gain by Umscheid and a two-yard touchdown run by Oberle that gave Dartmouth the 16-7 lead it took into the half.
That Oberle and Fiedler had the best days of their seasons concurrently is in no way coincidental. Just as Oberle was treated to gaping holes to run through, Fiedler had the luxury to find an open receiver and be able to throw it to him without a 270-pound lineman trying to make him eat dirt.
"The o-line played a great game," Fielder said.
Indeed, it was a sunny day all around.
